


Caring is a Dolor

by Lucy112235



Series: etnuary!! [1]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: ETNuary, Gen, first day n it’s Colleen day!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22062682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy112235/pseuds/Lucy112235
Summary: Colleen wants to live.She guesses that’s too much to ask for.
Relationships: The Detective | Matthew Patrick & The Investigative Reporter | Safiya Nygaard, The Disco Dancer | Colleen Ballinger & The Investigative Reporter | Safiya Nygaard, The Investigative Reporter | Safiya Nygaard & The Jet Setter | Rosanna Pansino
Series: etnuary!! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587973
Comments: 12
Kudos: 17





	Caring is a Dolor

**Author's Note:**

> ETNUARY IS HERREEE and I am going to be so stressed out but let’s ignore that!! we’re starting out with some good ol fashioned safleen angst! hope u enjoy, especially the safleen fans out there reading *looks to Birdy and Tea* ly guys-

Colleen Ballinger was a good person. 

At least, that's what she had always thought. She always thought she was a kind person who helped others in any way she could. She thought she had friends. She thought she deserved to live.

All of that, collapsing before her eyes as she watched her friends, one by one, approach the voting table. She knew they all picked her. Some were guilty. Some hid it. Some didn’t care. They jabbed their finger at her card, almost in disgust, as if she was a worthless lowlife who didn’t deserve to be born, much less have a chance at life. The people who an hour ago, even fifteen minutes ago, she considered her friends, now seemed to be predators who bore the same faces.

That night had been the worst one of her entire life. She’d gone on this “mission” because she thought it was a  _ collab.  _ She thought that she would meet up with Joey and a few other friends, shoot a video, and go home. So when she discovered there was  _ actually  _ a 1970s town that needed saving, she couldn’t say she wasn’t excited as well as nervous, but she soon realized that this mission wasn’t just dangerous… it was a death trap.

She’d seen many reality TV shows. In those, you were always supposed to make allies and not enemies. And she did, for a bit. She picked JC Caylen, a YouTuber who proved very clever from the disco challenge, and Roi Fabito, her trailer buddy. She thought she’d be fine. She thought she’d be safe.

And yet, who ended up dying first? JC Caylen. The boy who she thought would make it to the end, dead. Actually dead. 

After him was, wouldn’t you know, Roi. The boy who just wanted to help his friends. If it weren’t for Nikita, he would be alive.

Teala died after him, and guilt overshadowed her name. She was Colleen’s friend when they were not in the 70s… but here, it was survival of the fittest, and Colleen turned on her. She didn’t deserve her fate. 

The most recent death was the one that hit the hardest. Matthew Patrick, aka MatPat, aka the Genius, aka the MVP along with Safiya. Joey should’ve gone in. Joey should’ve died. He brought them all here, he was clearly evil, and for what? They got Matt’s death. 

And now she was here. In this dark, awful room, the room she was certain she would die in. To be murdered in by people she thought she trusted. She thought weren’t murderers.

_ “I’m scared, Saf. I’m scared he’ll kill me next.” _

Her mind flashed back to an hour ago, when she confessed her fear to Safiya Nygaard. Maybe she did it because of Saf’s logic, or believability to others, or the fact that Saf was the only one alive that actually knew shit. Maybe it was for something else. 

And for what? Saf probably voted her in. The thought hurt more than Joey voting her in, or Manny, or Ro. It hurt because Safiya knew how scared she was. Colleen wasn’t just an accuser, she was a person. A person she thought deserved life.

Colleen shot Safiya one last look, one of absolute desperation. Saf’s eyes, wide and understanding, stared back. Colleen knew that Safiya understood her, understood her terror. It only lasted a moment, but for a second, Colleen could feel a sliver, a glint of hope. That maybe it wasn’t over. That she wasn’t about to die. That she would live, for her family, for Erik, for her son. 

But soon, that moment was over. Safiya looked away, an arm around Ro, and Colleen knew she was doomed. 

Safiya didn’t want this.

Well, who would? Who would want to shove their friend into an Iron Maiden? No one but a psychopath, that’s for sure, and yet, that’s what she was about to do. Kill one of her friends.

After losing JC, Roi, Teala, and the one that hit the hardest, Matt, she couldn’t take losing someone else. So when she had to decide, she went with the crowd. That’s the logic she always followed. Everything had an explanation. This one was just to go with everyone else. So she picked Colleen Ballinger. 

And the choice kept nagging at the back of her mind.

Colleen’s eyes were filled with utter terror. She was visibly shaking and her face had a faraway, distant look. 

_ “I’m scared, Saf. I’m scared he’ll kill me next.”  _

Safiya suddenly felt very, very guilty, even more than before. An hour ago, Colleen poured her heart out to her, about her fear. She let down her walls. But Saf’s grief over Matt’s death and her worry for Ro drove her to run away. Saf wouldn’t listen to what might’ve been some of her dying words. 

She gulped down her emotions as Calliope drew a card. Her grip on Ro tightened. A part of her prayed it wasn’t Colleen, and she wondered why. Why did she care for her? She barely knew the girl. And yet, a part of her longed for Colleen to live. 

Calliope flipped the card, and the moment Saf saw the card, her heart dropped. 

Colleen’s face stared back at her.

_ “No, you guys, please don’t do this to me!”  _

Safiya turned back.

It was a simple action. Turning your head around. She turned back to the final resting place of Colleen Ballinger. Did it mean anything?

Maybe it did. Maybe she cared. Why? She and Colleen weren’t close. She barely knew the girl.

_ “Please, stop, please!” _

Her last moments. In her last moments, the fearless, gorgeous, sassy Disco Dancer was reduced to a sobbing mess of a girl begging for her life. She pleaded. She cried. She broke. And they killed her anyway.

_ “Please don’t do this to me please!”  _

Brown eyes. A bright smile. Wavy hair, flowing in the breeze. A laugh like tumbling waterfall. 

All gone. All of that reduced to a ghost.

_ “Please!”  _

_ Screams.  _ A voice.  _ Screams.  _ A calling.  _ Screams. _

_ Why is she still screaming make her stop-  _


End file.
